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View SlideshowRequest to buy this photoUNION COUNTY SHERIFF’S officeUnion County law-enforcement officers raided the Wayward Seed Farm and found a sophisticated pot-growing enterprise. The business supplies organic produce to restaurants.

MARYSVILLE, Ohio — The co-founder of one of central Ohio’s largest organic farms and a leader in
the farm-to-table movement here lowered his head in court yesterday and told a judge that he had
damaged his reputation and hurt the causes he loves by growing hundreds of marijuana plants in
Union County.

“I gave up a lot of the good I’ve done,” said Adam Welly, co-founder of Wayward Seed Farm.

Welly, 33, will spend five years on probation for growing the pot, Union County Common Pleas
Judge Don Fraser ruled. Welly could also serve jail time if he does not fulfill the terms of his
probation.

But Welly will get to keep his land. Prosecutors had
threatened to seize the 5-acre property at 14950 Fladt Rd., where investigators
found the plants, but agreed to let Welly keep the land as long as he pays a $10,000 fine.

Welly said he did not want to talk to a reporter after the hearing.

He co-founded Wayward Seed Farm in 2006 and helped cultivate it from a 1-acre project in
Sandusky County to one of the region’s largest farm-to-table companies. Wayward Seed supplies food
to restaurants throughout central Ohio. It also has a community-supported agriculture program that
allows people to buy shares in the farm in exchange for weekly distributions of fresh fruits and
vegetables.

Deputies found 565 marijuana plants, some processed pot and two shotguns.

Welly’s partner at Wayward Seed, Jaime Moore, told investigators that she had no idea Welly had
been growing marijuana. Welly and Moore co-own the property. Investigators and prosecutors have
cleared her of any wrongdoing.

Union County Sheriff Jamie Patton said at the time that if the plants had grown to maturity,
they would have produced marijuana that would have sold for about $560,000 on the street.

Michael Probst, Welly’s attorney, said Welly grew the plants hoping to make some money.

“He was down on hard times, struggling,” Probst said. “He just simply decided he would try to
have financial gain from illegal activity.”